20 October 2016

By Declan Owens, Socialist Lawyer

A Manifesto for Labour Law: towards a comprehensive revision of workers’ rights, published by the Institute of Employment Rights, 2016

Workers who read the Institute of Employment Rights’ Manifesto will recognise its diagnosis of the problem of labour law in the UK and it is likely that they will agree the recommended solution: a comprehensive revision of workers’ rights. Workers’ rights in the UK are already subject to a framework of law that is the most restrictive in the western world, a grim reality proudly endorsed by Tony Blair on the eve of his election in 1997 and not effectively addressed by any UK government since. Nevertheless, the Manifesto recognises that the world of work has changed and the law must follow.

14 October 2016

Writing for the Industrial Law Journal, Private Law Lecturer at Kings' College London Dr Ewan McGaughey, has praised the Institute of Employment Rights' Manifesto for Labour Law, saying it could represent a "qualitative shift in politics".

28 September 2016

The IER's Manifesto for Labour Law was partly borne out of international comparison with Europe's strongest economies, where collective bargaining has served to create more equal and more resilient economies than in the UK.

20 September 2016

By the International Centre for Trade Union Rights

The International Centre for Trade Union Rights (ICTUR) has reviewed the Institute of Employment Rights' Manifesto for Labour Law in its journal.

13 September 2016

By Trade Union Futures

It must have seemed a lonely furrow at times. For years now, the Institute of Employment Rights has been the go-to source of expertise and thought on workers rights for the left in the trade union movement. But successive New Labour governments showed themselves to be profoundly uninterested in tackling the iniquities of Britain’s labour market, preferring to wish them away with utopian fantasies about the knowledge economy. The Coalition and its Tory successor of course have launched a further frontal attack on the few rights and protections left to organised labour. But such has been the electrifying power of the left revival around Jeremy Corbyn that suddenly, the issue of workers rights is back on the agenda. Even Corbyn’s ‘moderate’ opponent Owen Smith declares himself in favour of collective bargaining now and suddenly the IER finds itself in possession of the appropriate ideas for the moment.

30 August 2016

By the Labour Research Department

Britain’s largest unions are backing comprehensive policy proposals for a framework of collective bargaining, underpinned by strong trade union rights, drawn up by 15 of the UK’s leading labour lawyers.